DH drinks 6 to 8 cups of 1% or 2% milk every day. DS3 drinks a quart of chocolate milk daily. DS2 drinks cocoa in the winter after he takes a pill for lactose intolerance. DS1 doesn't drink milk. DD doesn't drink milk very often. I drink a glass of milk maybe as often as once a month, unless I've put Kashi cereal back into my breakfast rotation - I do put milk on it. I use milk for cooking and baking, but it isn't called for all that often. Once a year, I eat the ultimate unhealthy food: biscuits and milk gravy. Milk gravy is made from milk, flour, salt, pepper, and bacon drippings, with lots of pieces of cooked bacon in it. Sausages belong nowhere near it.

One more update. Yesterday, after 5 years (since the other strokes) of being unable to write legibly, DH signed for something and astonished to see that his former signature has returned. He had beautiful, legible handwriting that anyone could read before he started having strokes. For 5 years, no one, including him, has been able to read his handwriting -- not one word, no matter how painstakingly he wrote. I noticed over the last day that he isn't using his hands to move his legs into and out of the car. Not sure yet whether that will be true with our car, which is a much lower to the ground, more compact car than he has been in. Our car's week-old brand new front axle broke when I was on my way to the hospital, so it is in the shop, getting a new axle at no cost to us. The dealer originally put in an axle for the wrong make/model of car because for some reason that one fit and they didn't notice that their supplier sent them the wrong one. Yesterday, the new one didn't fit, and that's how they discovered they were ordering the correct axle but receiving the wrong one. He keeps saying he feels great physically, compared to how he has felt for the last 5 years, especially in the last few months. We figure that, since the tPA can't fix brain damage from past strokes, that he had at least one small blood clot in his brain that prevented him from being able to write, and the tPA eradicated that. What we can't figure out, since most of the brain damage occurred with stroke #4, and we got him to the hospital quickly, is why he didn't get tPA at our local hospital. They have it there. Also, during the period he had the 4 strokes (April through July 2011), the neurologist never put him on any blood thinning drugs. This is not a lawsuit waiting to happen because the statute of limitations has passed. But I do hope that DH asks these questions and gets answers. Physicians should know when they've made a mistake and what those consequences are for the patient, whether or not a lawsuit is involved. DH is definitely going to a different neurologist in the future. Over the next few days, I am going to try to get him to test his note-taking skills and try other skills, like cutting his own food. I recently bought very sharp steak knives so he has been able to cut up his own food without my help, but it isn't a very elegant process and it takes a long time. In the hospital, he cut up spaghetti with a spoon and knife because he couldn't get a fork to cooperate. (My useless steak knife collection has been donated to Goodwill; it took awhile to find knives that were useful.) I'm pretty excited about this. Being able to get in and out of our car easily, and being able to write, and to cut food easily will make a difference in his quality of life. The little limitations irritate him, and not being able to take notes is a real pain in the you know what. Luckily, he has always been able to remember numbers, so when he has to take down a phone number, he can remember it and someone else can write it down for him. Almost forgot -- in the hospital, before taking the tPA, he failed a swallow test. He always starts choking and coughing while eating and drinking. But after he took the tPA, when in ICU, he did not choke or cough at all. He hasn't done that since he's been home either. So maybe that problem is over, too. It's been really awful for him since the choking and coughing lasts 2-5 minutes, and his doctors have told him for 5 years that it is due to the strokes and there is nothing that can be done about it. It can be a dangerous situation because a few times I've had to do the Heimlich maneuver. All this looks promising. If he can do just one thing that he couldn't do before, that would be enough for him because it would make his daily life easier.

He is already on Plavix. No one has mentioned changing his prescription. He has to see our regular doctor within a week and a neurologist within four weeks. He is home now, and he says he feels fine. He is very grateful for all of your prayers and encouragement, as am I.

$99 for ancestry only; $199 health + ancestry. https://www.23andme.com/ As far as ancestry composition is concerned, on mine it is: French & German (17.6%) British & Irish (44.1%) Iberian (0.5%) Scandinavian (4.3%) broadly Northwestern European (19.2%) Eastern European (3.5%) broadly Southern European (1%) broadly European (9.4%) Ashkenazi (0.3%). 23andme also compared my DNA with my mother's and told me the ancestry composition from each parent. I also have a list of DNA relatives. Most of them are barely related to me. I have a second cousin on my father's side, for example, who shares 5.03% of my DNA (21 segments). She allows contact, so I was able to give her some information she needed about my grandmother. Out of my 1,537 relatives who were tested by 23andme, the last one is a guy who shares .16% of my DNA (one segment). A super majority of my DNA relatives are in this "distant cousin" category. If I were researching my family's geneology, I wouldn't get very far with 23andme because except for my mother, none of the relatives I know have been tested through 23andme, and the people who are my "relatives" are so distantly related to me that it doesn't matter to me.

No. Everyone in the family "knows" the percentage of NA because that is what Grandma told them. My father and his siblings (all now deceased) knew it. My cousins know it. All the people who married into the family know it. If I could prove 100% scientifically that we had no NA ancestry, no one in the family would believe it. I suspect my cousins think my father was the milkman. :laugh: I had fun asking my mother about that ... first time she's been speechless! Just using my brain (which means nothing), I figure that if my dad got 50% of my grandma's genes, maybe he got the part that didn't include NA since his grandparents were born in Ireland. Or maybe I got the part of her genes from him that didn't include NA. I was really looking forward my DNA test showing my NA ancestry. I don't think any of my cousins will get tested in case their fathers turn out to be milkmen, too!

Good news update! The doctor gave DH the clot-busting stroke drug in the ER last night (tPA). Today's MRI showed that he has no brain damage at all from this stroke. He has been tested all day and shows no signs of having had a stroke. The nurse said the drug reverses stroke damage, but couldn't explain how. I get how it prevents further damage by opening up the blood flow to the brain. I don't get how the damage already done by a current stroke is reversed. http://www.webmd.com/stroke/news/20140313/every-minute-matters-with-clot-busting-stroke-drug-study So DH has a CAT scan at 4 a.m., and if it is clear, he will come home tomorrow! He is "wobbly" when he stands or walks, the nurse says, but I think maybe they are seeing how DH has been since the strokes he had in 2011. He has problems with balance and tripping, and walks *extremely* slowly. They are worried about falls and put an alarm on his bed because he keeps trying to get out of bed when a nurse is not present. He's pretty determined not to have a nurse help him do anything, but the alarm has put the kibosh on that! Otherwise, except for telling the nurses that he has the right to refuse treatments, he has cooperated with everything else (MRI, this thing on his legs that keeps the blood flowing so he won't develop a clot there, the blood pressure cuff that automatically inflates -- all this is drives him nuts.) DH said that last night his symptoms were getting steadily worse until they gave him the tPA about 2 hours after he'd had the stroke. He was failing all their tests (raise arm, make a fist, grip tests, raise his leg, bring his finger to his nose, etc.). It took an hour for the ambulance to get him to the hospital counting from the time I called 911. And then an hour at the hospital getting checked out, IV put in, and having x-rays and CAT scans before they gave him the tPA. He told me to be at the hospital at 4 a.m. to bring him home after the CAT Scan. He was disappointed to find out it will take longer than that to discharge him and it will be, at very earliest, after breakfast. He's had next to no sleep -- they check his vital signs every 15 minutes in the ICU -- and said the only time he slept was when he was getting the MRI. Thank you all very much for your prayers, positive thoughts, and encouragement. And thank you, Jean, for posting about this. During times like this, knowing Boardies are pulling for me and mine gives me peace of mind.

Thank you for your prayers and positive thoughts! This morning the nurse said that DH is "doing well", and that I couldn't visit him during the first set of visiting hours because he was going for an MRI. So, we will visit him at 4 p.m. There are no phones allowed in ICU; they don't want him to talk on the phone, they want him to recover. I called the nurse a couple of times to leave messages that were important, so DH wouldn't worry.

Thank you, everyone. DH is regaining his ability to use his right side after being given a clot-dissolving drug called TPA. He can make a loose fist, and that cheered him up. He was afraid he'd never be able to use the right side of his body again because after the stroke, he could not sit up or use his right arm/hand or right leg. He was admitted to the ICU for a few days. I think (and hope) he will be fine. The doc said he had a moderate level stroke, so it could have been a whole lot worse. We'll have to wait and see how things go -- I really don't know what I'm talking about. I'm just whistling in the wind. DH obviously feels well-cared for at the hospital (and he is -they are the regional stroke center). He was so cheerful when we left at 4 a.m., even though it was way past his bedtime!

Could this explain how my grandmother could be 50% Native American and I have 0% Native American DNA?

"According to the Oxford English Dictionary middle age is between 45–65:[2] "The period between early adulthood and old age, usually considered as the years from about 45 to 65." The US Census lists the category middle age from 45 to 65." As of the DSM IV, middle age is 45-65. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_age I am now 60 years old, so I like that definition! :hurray:

When we moved to PA, I got a lot of colds. I figured that the cold viruses were different here. A few years ago, I read in the news and on the CDC website (can't find it now) that taking zinc either prevents cold viruses from taking hold, or lessens the duration and severity of symptoms by about half. I started taking zinc in the fall and spring, and over the three years, have had only one cold. Several started, but stopped after the first day. Of course, I realize that may be a coincidence. But just in case .... I also clean and spray Lysol on faucet handles and doorknobs, and clean all touchpads and keyboards every day once the weather turns cold. Sometimes I use wipes -- not all disinfect, which is what I want -- so I read the fine print. I wash my hands a lot, and I try to keep them away from my face. I try to get enough sleep and I eat a healthy diet. My vaccinations are up-to-date. I need to figure out a way to get more exercise in the winter. The rest of the year, I get plenty of exercise just living my life. My top winter goals are to stay warm and to stay healthy. I am much more diligent about germs in winter.

#1 Age discrimination - against the law but nearly impossible to prove. #2 In my area, at least, very few jobs that aren't part-time *and* require the employee to be available all hours the business is open. This prevents people from getting 2 part-time jobs in many, many cases. Also, these part-time jobs come without benefits, such as insurance.

I buy pasteurized eggs to avoid the salmonella risk because DH and I like runny eggs. If eggs are an ingredient, I use regular eggs. The CDC says to cook eggs and egg dishes to 160* unless pasteurized eggs are used. http://www.cdc.gov/features/salmonellaeggs/

Nope. My son does, though. I think it is a waste of my time. Where I live, these are the people who deeply believe whatever their pastors say, and haven't read the bible. There is no rational discussion, just an invitation to go to their church and/or come and talk to their pastor so he will set me straight. Of course, I don't take them up on their offer. I do not believe that anyone can tell whether someone is a "real Christian". I think that is God's job. And, of course, there are plenty of people who don't understand mental illness, Christian or not. They might be able to if they would do some reading about it from a reputable source or talk to mentally ill people and believe their stories, but a lot of folks (amazingly) don't.

I have a son who has severe treatment-resistant depression. This means that the intensive treatment he has undergone in the last 5.5 years has not worked. He has been on 18 different medications, to many therapists who have tried every type of therapy, and to several psychiatrists. Nothing works, period, not even a little bit. He cannot work, go to school, or participate in normal life activities. He goes to a hospital three times a week for electroconvulsive therapy ("ECT", formerly known as electroshock therapy). He was approved for this by his own psychiatrist and another team of psychiatrists and by his insurance company. He would not go through this if it were not absolutely necessary. He had to take a 3.5 month break from it over the summer because of tachycardia after the electroshock therapy (fast heart rate) that occurred during it, while cardiologists ran tests on him to see if there was a reason for it other than ECT. He deteriorated quickly without the ECT. It had made a difference the severity of his depression at that point, but not nearly enough for him to be able to work or go to school. He is a devout Christian. He has been told more than a few times, by Christians, that he is not a "real Christian" because if he were, God would have healed him. He has been told he doesn't have enough faith or prayer would have cured him. He has been told he is obviously not participating fully in therapy, or that would have cured him by now. He has been told he is just lazy and needs to pray about that. I don't know if he has been told that Satan is messing with him, but I have -- and faith healing has been offered (laying on of hands) by a faith healer because if will definitely cure him if he is a Christian. This is all distressing to him, and by extension, to me.

This happened to my gas stove last year. I tried many things. My stove top's exterior is clad in black enamel paint (factory-applied), and I was worried this would take off the paint, but I was desperate and had already tried everything else I could think of with the help of Google research. This includes fume-free oven cleaner, stove top cleaner, Mr. Clean, 409, Fantastic, Barkeeper's Friend, water soaking, covering with baking powder paste and letting it sit for a long time, etc. If I had to do it again, I would test my plan on a burner cover (flat round painted disk that sits atop the burner). But I was desperate ... this process had gone on for nearly a year already! By this point, I was willing to risk damaging my stove top even though to replace a burner cover would cost only $100 ("only" is a relative term). I poured straight ammonia on the stove. I made sure that there was not enough ammonia to get inside the burner (where the fire comes out). I was super careful about that because I didn't want to break the stove. Then I covered the entire stove top with plastic wrap. The plastic wrap didn't touch the ammonia because the burner covers (metal disks atop the burners) and the rim around the perimeter held it up. I covered it as tightly as I could. I left it there for at least 12 hours. It is best to do this after dinner and plan not to use the stove again until the process is over. The next day, I took off the plastic wrap. I sopped up the ammonia with paper towels, taking with it any gunk that was loose. I used a *plastic* spoon (so it wouldn't scratch the stove paint) to scrape the remaining gunk and the blackened mess came right off. Then I more or less rinsed the stove top with wet paper towels and dried it off. Any spots remaining that were bumpy, I attacked with the plastic spoon, and they came off easily. Any spotting left (not bumpy), I rubbed with Barkeeper's Friend (not wedded to that brand name, it's just what I had). Rinsed again and went over the whole thing with 409 cleaner. Then I cleaned the burners themselves (parts come off!) with wet q-tips. I didn't use any products on parts that couldn't be removed because I didn't want to cause a fire the next time I turned on the stove. I didn't know if a fire would result, just being careful. Voila! Clean stove top! Two things. Yes, ammonia smells awful, but needs must. The plastic spoon was the sturdy kind they give with Frosties at Wendy's. I used a plastic spoon because I had read that it wouldn't scratch stove paint. I tried this only because it works to clean oven racks -- put them in a double plastic trash bag with a cup of ammonia, tie the bags closed, and set them outside for 24 hours. The gunk on them will rinse right off.

I have two kids with loud voices. They have been taught about inside and outside voices since they could talk. Their natural speaking voice is just loud. Drives me nuts. I tell them to keep it down, and they try, but within a few minutes, they are back to speaking loudly ... even when they are sitting right next to each other. My kids are adults. This has been a losing battle for a long time. Their bedrooms are adjacent to one another, and it is really fun when one loud one loudly complains about the other loud one keeping him/her awake by being too loud. The miscreant is talking on the phone ... or singing. Then they argue about whether the current loud one is talking loudly enough to prevent the other one from being able to sleep. They take turns doing this and they Never Learn.

When my kids were younger, I timed how long I spend doing food-related activities. Cooking, baking, cleaning, planning, and grocery lists/shopping - everything I do that is associated with the kitchen -- took an average of 21 hours a week. That is a part-time job! I cook and bake nearly everything from scratch, and back then I made three meals a day for my family. After decades of doing this, it has become a chore. I still like to read cookbooks and I'm still interested in all aspects of food. I'd rather have someone else do the actual work involved, to my standards in everything involved. If I were wealthy enough, I'd hire someone to do all kitchen-related work.

Thank you, MotherGoose and skimomma. I raw pack my seeded tomato halves and quarters in hot jars since they are going into a pressure canner with very hot or boiling water in it. I guess since they would be sitting out and the jars they'd be in would not be hot, I'd better not get too efficient with them! I hot pack tomato sauce and spaghetti sauce, but keeping so many jars hot while they wait their turn would be a problem. My canner takes up a lot of room on the stove, and I'm canning about a one year supply of each, so that is a lot of jars to keep hot. I have this fantasy that somehow I can streamline the process more, but I don't think I can do that without buying another fridge to store the prepped product in until it is all prepped and ready to be hot-packed. This year, I plan to can 8 bushels, but I may decide that's just too much. I ran out of home-canned tomatoes by spring this year and now I'm on a mission not to do that again! Every year, I feel like I am drowning in tomatoes, but after this is over, for an entire year, I'm thankful I did it because the end result tastes so much better than what I can buy in the store. Thanks for your advice!

I am allergic to cats and rabbits.

I want to pressure can a large batch of tomatoes (2 or 3 bushels) efficiently. When it comes time to put all the tomatoes in the canning jars, can I do that -- all at once -- even though my pressure canner only holds 7 quarts? Or should I fill and process them one 7-quart batch at a time? I have googled this question extensively and can find no information on that subject. Thanks for your help!

In our family, we all read a lot. I will never forget the Saturday morning that it was quiet, and I looked around the room and each of us was reading a book. The kids must have been around 6 or 7 years old. Neighbors used to call our home "the library" because we have so many books. When I was growing up, my mom, sister and I read a lot. My brother read only nonfiction until he complained to me about being bored in a tree stand, waiting for a deer to stroll by, and I mailed him a book I thought he'd like (Chiefs, by Stuart Woods). Since then, he reads a lot of fiction. When I finish a book, I feel at loose ends ... cast adrift. Thank goodness for my Kindle -- I take it everywhere and can only fall asleep while reading it. It is my most valuable possession. I read about 260 books a year. I keep a list of every book I read so I don't accidentally start reading one I've already read. I read a lot fewer books when my kids were young, of course.

I used harnesses for my 4 kids when they were young. From time to time, some fool had a negative comment to make. I merely asked them if they would feel the same way if a child of mine got away from me, sans harness, and ended up dead. I have triplet sons, plus a daughter who is 1.5 years younger. No way was I going to risk my kids' lives in favor of the approval of strangers. Even with the most well-behaved children (and mine were, at least in public), there is no way to predict when or if a young child will suddenly take off and be in harm's way.

I don't tell anyone, including DH. A few times, people have talked to DH as though he knew their secret, and they were surprised that he didn't. I, in turn, was surprised that they thought I would tell him without their permission. This doesn't apply to anyone who tells me they are going to put themselves or others in danger, and should that occur, I will be up front that I am not treating this communication as a secret.

Puppy could also be infected with intestinal parasites coccidia and/or giardia. http://frontiervet.com/2012/07/30/coccidia-and-giardia-the-non-worm-parasites/ This possibility is another reason to take the puppy to the vet. We recently had thirteen 8-week old puppies in rescue, and over half of them were infected.